PILGRIMAGES. 



741 



den blow on the breast, was tumbled headlong 

 into it. Before he could recover himself, he was 

 seized by a strong man, placed there for the pur- 

 pose, who lifted him in his arms, and whirled him 

 about in the water till he was completely ex- 

 hausted. When he thus became quiet, it was sup- 

 posed that his reason was returning, and in this 

 state he was carried into the neighbouring church, 

 where masses were said over him ; and if he re- 

 covered, as it is said he frequently did, the honour 

 was given to Saint Nun. 



In some instances, the imputed efficacy of these 

 wells was of a moral kind. The wells of Saint 

 John and the Virgin at Honiley, in Warwickshire, 

 were celebrated for removing the taint of unchas- 

 tity. The pilgrimages to them were made by 

 both parties after the birth of their offspring. The 

 man bathed in the well of Saint John, and the fe- 

 male in that of the Virgin, both being filled from 

 the same spring. Having made this ablution, they 

 went to the neighbouring church, and crept on 

 their knees to the shrines of the respective saints, 

 beseeching them to intercede with our Saviour for 

 their forgiveness. They then made an offering at 

 the altar, and the priest gave each a bottle of the 

 water of the spring, as a preservative against fu- 

 ture offences. At many of the wells, however, as 

 at the wishing wells of Walsingham, the ceremony 

 consisted in drinking of the waters, after which the 

 devotee knelt upon the margin, repeating the 

 things he desired, and throwing in pieces of gold. 

 In the ancient form, which was purely pagan, 

 crooked pins only were thrown in " to the genius 

 of the spring," or scraps of the garment of the pil- 

 grim attached as a memorial to the neighbouring 

 bushes. This custom continued to the last at 

 Whiteford and other undedicated wells. But 

 when the waters were rescued from their pagan 

 patron, and placed under the charge of Christian 

 saints, it was a natural change to substitute some 

 more valuable gift. 



The custom of performing pilgrimages by proxy 

 was perhaps a consequence of the Catholic doc- 

 trine, that an individual might, on some occasions, 

 depute his religious duties to others, without de- 

 triment to himself. Generally, however, these 

 pilgrimages were performed only after the demise 

 of the person to whom they referred, though a few 

 instances occur of their taking place in his life- 

 time. Provisions for these post obit pilgrimages 

 are frequently met with in the wills of distin- 

 guished persons, from the twelfth to the sixteenth 

 century. In the earlier instances, they were com- 

 monly directed to Rome or Jerusalem, and in these 

 cases were committed to priests, who were directed 

 to pray or sing masses at all convenient places by 

 the way. But in later ages, like other pilgrimages, 

 they were more commonly made to domestic 

 shrines, and appear to have been intrusted to sim- 

 ple laymen. A pious lady, whose will is printed 

 in Blomefield's Norfolk, provides for a pilgrim to 

 visit, after her death, no less than eight different 

 shrines within that county. It is probable, from 

 the low rate at which these spiritual commissions 

 were generally paid, that the same person under- 

 took several of them at once. In the will of lady 

 Cecily Gerbridge, in 1418, only ten marks are left 

 for a pilgrim to visit Rome ; and in another, that 

 of Gardiner, bishop of Norwich, in 1508, only 

 twenty marks are left for the same pilgrimage, 

 with the condition of singing at Rome there for 

 thirteen weeks. In some few cases, the executors 



of a will were directed to give certain sums to all 

 pilgrims, without distinction, who were willing to 

 undertake an assigned pilgrimage for the deceased. 

 The same system of vicarious duty prevailed in the 

 crusades ; but at first the privilege of deputation 

 was confined to persons of the same rank. A 

 father often bequeathed a crusade to his son, and 

 assigned him by will certain funds for his expenses ; 

 and the son, again, perhaps satisfied his conscience 

 by transferring it to his own heirs. This delay, 

 however, arose partly from the long intermission 

 of crusades, in which alone such hostile service 

 could be performed ; and the duty thus often con- 

 tinued to be acknowledged for several generations. 

 In the will of Sir Roger Beauchamp, in 1379, he 

 confesses that, by the devise of his grand-father, 

 he was bound to do service in the Holy Land, to 

 the expense of two hundred marks ; but having 

 never performed it, he now transferred the duty, 

 with the funds for it, to his grand-son, to discharge 

 for him. 



The practice of making valuable presents to 

 shrines, though not assuming the form of pilgrim- 

 ages, was very nearly allied to them in spirit. 

 These presents were made annually, or at other 

 periodical intervals, by most persons of rank in 

 Catholic ages. It appears from the household 

 book of the earl of Northumberland that he gave 

 donations every year to several popular shrines, 

 and kept a candle constantly burning at some of 

 them, with a provision for a priest to attend it. 

 Edward I. appears to have made periodical offer- 

 ings to nearly one hundred shrines; and his queen 

 is recorded to have given twelve florins of gold 

 for herself and her son, to the several shrines of 

 Becket at Canterbury, with three florins more for 

 the infant with which her majesty was then preg- 

 nant. It was common in sickness for the invalid 

 or his friends to tempt the intercession of a saint 

 by vowing to present quantities of corn, bread, or 

 wax at his shrine, the precise quantity being gen- 

 erally determined by the weight of the patient. In 

 one of the Paston Letters, Margaret Paston in- 

 forms her brother, that his mother had vowed an 

 image of wax of his weight to Our Lady of Wal- 

 singham, and that she was going to the same 

 shrine, on a pilgrimage for him. But the most 

 valuable presents of this kind were those made by 

 bequest. Ladies, at their death, often left their 

 richest dresses and most costly jewels to the 

 shrines of their favourite saint; and it was pro- 

 bably in this way, as much as by pilgrimage, that 

 their immense wealth was accumulated. A most 

 splendid bequest of this kind occurs in the will of 

 Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, in 1435. 

 He directs his executors to cause four images of 

 pure gold, each containing twenty pounds, to be 

 made in the likeness of himself in his coat of arms, 

 and holding an anchor between his hands ; one to 

 be given to the shrine of St Alban, another to St 

 Thomas of Canterbury, a third to Bridlington, in 

 Yorkshire, and a fourth to St Winifred, at Shrews- 

 bury. 



One reason, probably, for making gifts in this 

 form, rather than in money, was to ensure their 

 permanent attachment to the shrine to which they 

 were given. To what degree this precaution was 

 necessary is not known or what was the precise 

 law affecting the property of offerings. At shrines, 

 like that of Becket, it may be supposed, from their 

 immense wealth, that a great part of the present? 

 were preserved ; but at many of the lesser ones the 



